Marcel Brands did not report to the boardroom of the home club on Tuesday evening during the halftime match between FC Emmen and PSV (1-0), writes The Telegraph. The general manager saw his team once again put on a sad performance and was ‘clearly not in the mood for difficult questions’, says the daily. PSV dropped points for the third time this calendar year and can be overtaken by Ajax on Thursday.
According to The Telegraph there is an increasing emphasis on Brands when the crisis comes up at PSV. “Now that PSV has seen its prospects for the title deteriorate drastically in a few weeks, this is a serious blow to the status of the general manager who was brought in with much clarion call last summer, who, after the departure of John de Jong, in whom the confidence was terminated by the supervisory board, has taken up his old job,” writes Jeroen Kapteijns.
“It was Brands who talked Van Nistelrooy into standing in front of the group after all, after the former striker came to the conclusion that it was not yet the right time. That the general manager then allowed financial interests to prevail over Gakpo and Madueke has put Van Nistelrooy in a difficult position in his first year as head coach of PSV. Brands has failed by not having replacements ready to absorb the major losses with a new impulse. That is a major strategic miss.”
Due to the defeat in Emmen, PSV has only two loss points less than in the entire previous season under Roger Schmidt. The people of Eindhoven already played a draw against Sparta Rotterdam (0-0) and Fortuna Sittard (2-2) in 2023 and have to make every effort not to stray further. The gap to leader Feyenoord is three points with a game more played. On Wednesday, FC Twente can get over Ruud van Nistelrooij’s team. If Ajax also manages to beat FC Volendam on Thursday, PSV will be fifth.